Pittsburgh Pirates News: Joel Hanrahan Leaves the Organization

After spending the past five seasons as a minor league coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, former Pirate All-Star Joel Hanrahan is leaving the organization

When the Pittsburgh Pirates began to rise toward prominence in the early 2010s one of the most well-known players in the organization was pitcher Joel Hanrahan. Working as the team’s closer in 2011 and 2012, Hanrahan was an All-Star in both of these seasons.

While Hanrahan was never on a Pirate team that made the postseason the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Pittsburgh Pirates both competed deep into the season. That offseason Hanrahan was then traded to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for four players, one of which was Mark Melancon who went on to become arguably the best reliever in Pirate history.

Shortly after arriving in Boston, Hanrahan began to battle elbow injuries that led to Tommy John Surgery. Unfortunately, Hanrahan was never the same pitcher again, and he officially retired following the 2016 season.

With his playing days in the rear view mirror Hanrahan started his coaching career in 2017 as an assistant pitching coach for the Single-A West Virginia Black Bears in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. This was the start of the rise of Hanrahan as a pitching coach.

Hanrahan began to rise through the Pirate farm system as a pitching coach. Last season, Hanrahan served as the pitching coach for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. While he was expected to reprise this role in 2022 that will not be the case.

Wednesday afternoon Hanrahan announced that he will not return to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a minor league coach in 2022. This news came as a surprise, especially after Hanrahan had recently told The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel that he held aspirations to be a MLB coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

According to Alex Stumpf of DK on Pittsburgh Sports, money was not an issue with Hanrahan.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, according to Stumpf, made a strong financial offer to Hanrahan in an effort to renew his contract. However, Hanrahan, as you can see above, stated that he decided this was no longer the correct fit for him.

Hanrahan was quickly becoming a well respect minor league pitching coach. It would not have been a surprise to see Hanrahan be given the opportunity to replace Oscar Marin as the team’s MLB pitching coach if the pitching staff were to struggle again in 2022. Odds are, Hanrahan was not far away from earning an opportunity with the Pirates. Now Hanrahan will look for his first MLB coaching opportunity elsewhere.